What happened to Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre? The big-budget spy caper was initially set for a March 2022 theatrical release from STX, only to see its debut cancelled at the eleventh hour. While many have blamed the fact that some of the baddies are apparently Ukrainian (a faux pas given the war in Ukraine), a new report in Deadline suggests this is only a minor concern and that distributor STX’s behind-the-scenes turmoil is more to blame. Indeed, the trade is now saying Operation Fortune will likely make its debut via a high-profile streaming release, although none has been named yet.
The report notes that, for a time, Lionsgate – who have picked up many of the STX films – was willing to release it, only for them to back down once they realized it would go up against Gerard Butler’s Plane, which is getting excellent early buzz. It’s odd that Operation Fortune couldn’t find another theatrical taker considering that Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham’s last movie, Wrath of Man, made over $100 million worldwide, despite coming out at the height of the pandemic.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre stars Jason Statham as the leader of a spy team (which includes Aubrey Plaza) that recruits a movie star (played by Josh Hartnett) to infiltrate the inner circle of an evil billionaire, played by Hugh Grant. Given the ensemble, one would assume the film is pretty commercial, but alas, it will likely show up on a streaming service sometime soon. Ritchie, for his part, seems quite happy to work with streamers, having already shot a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal that Amazon Studios partially financed. Perhaps Operation Fortune will be a Prime Video exclusive?
Earlier this year, STX released the Chris Pine film, The Contractor through a limited theatrical/streaming deal with Paramount Pictures and Showtime. That excellent film was vastly underseen, so hopefully, Operation Fortune will be able to secure a better roll-out.